Links

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

I continued my musical journey in 2013 with more discoveries online by way of Spotify, Pandora, YouTube and other networks. Again, I say, welcome to the future…

From Pop Hits to Indie Dance to Rock...and Everything Else, it was quite a busy year for music, as always and everyone knows my taste varies.
I expanded my Spotify playlists to include more Indie Dance, Electronica, Sounds of both Brazil and Ibiza, Classic Rock (Thanks to the music of Pink Floyd, The Eagles and Led Zeppelin added to Spotify) and Classic Jazz; Discovering and listening to artists like Kavinsky, The Civil Wars, Tame Impala, Alice Smith, The Editors, Cut Copy, Chromeo and The Weeknd for the first time.

Familiar favorites were in rotation as well including Daft Punk, Kings of Leon, New Order, The Smiths, Jamiroquai, Eddie Kendricks, The Cure and Chet Baker.

The best television performance of the year, in my opinion, would go to Alice Smith’s “Fool for You” performed on BET’s Black Girls Rock 2013.

The one music collection, I discovered, that rose above all others would go to the Tammi Terrell – Come on and See Me: The Complete Solo Collection and her version of Stevie Wonder’s “All I Do Is Think About You” (Previously Unreleased) Though released in 2010, this collection is as definitive as it gets for a talent our world lost so young. I discovered it after adding the Motown Complete Singles Collection 1959-1970s on my Spotify Playlists in July. Both are great collections every music fan should add.

And the song with the best video-song combination with a deep meaning goes to Basement Jaxx and their song, “What A Difference Your Love Makes”
So, here again, listed alphabetically, are some of those songs and artists I discovered, enjoyed and had made the rotation on my playlists in 2013:

======================================

A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got) - Fergie, Q-Tip and GoonRock (The Great Gatsby Soundtrack)

Thursday, November 28, 2013

The Delfonics are a pioneering Philadelphia soul singing group, popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Their most notable hits include "La-La (Means I Love You)", "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)", "Break Your Promise", "I'm Sorry", and "Ready or Not Here I Come (Can't Hide from Love)". Their hit songs were all written by songwriter and producer Thom Bell and lead vocalist and founder William Hart.

Their songs have been used extensively in film soundtracks, including Quentin Tarantino's 1997 movie Jackie Brown, in which "La-La (Means I Love You)" and "Didn't I Blow Your Mind" underscore the pivotal relationship between the characters played by Pam Grier and Robert Forster.

In addition, their songs have been covered by numerous other performers, including Aretha Franklin, The Jackson 5, Patti LaBelle, New Kids on the Block, Fugees, Todd Rundgren, Prince, Swing Out Sister and The Manhattan Transfer.

Original group members were William and Wilbert Hart, Ritchie Daniels, and Randy Cain, whom they met at Overbrook High School in the 1960s. Their first recording, "He Don't Really Love You", was for Moon Shot in 1966. Daniels was drafted and left for the service in 1968. At Cameo, producer Stan Watson introduced them to producer Thom Bell, then working with Chubby Checker. With Cameo they recorded a popular tune called "You've Been Untrue". The group's first album, released on Watson's own Philly Groove record label, featured the smash hit "La-La (Means I Love You)" in 1968. The single sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Four more Bell-produced albums appeared in the next few years: The Sound of Sexy Soul, The Delfonics Super Hits, The Delfonics and Tell Me This Is a Dream. Among the Delfonics' popular hits were the Grammy-winning "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)", "(For The Love) I Gave To You", "Ready or Not Here I Come (Can't Hide from Love)", and "Hey Love". Prior to the release of "La-La (Means I Love You)", they had a hit with "He Don't Really Love You" on the small Moonshot record label in 1966. The Delfonics and Bell had to work with a basic budget on the first creation as Thom explained "When I took them into the studio we didn't have any money to pay for string players and an orchestra so I played most of the instruments myself!" - a far cry from the full classical productions from 1968 to the beginning of the seventies. "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)" also sold a million copies and by March 1970 received a gold disc from the R.I.A.A..

Randy Cain left the group in 1971, and in 1973 had a hand in formulating Blue Magic, best known for their classic "Sideshow," when he brought singer-songwriter Ted Mills in to do some writing for W.M.O.T. (We Men Of Talent), and the remaining future members of Blue Magic came in for an audition. Cain was replaced by Major Harris; by then, however, Thom Bell had moved on to produce The Stylistics and later, The Spinners, all artists in the mold of the Delfonics. The Delfonics swiftly produced another album, Alive & Kicking, produced by Stan Watson. However, in the absence of Thom Bell, the Delfonics' career declined sharply, and with the exception of the aforementioned "Hey Love" and the minor hits "When You Get Right Down to It", "I Don't Want To Make You Wait" and "I Told You So", success eluded them after 1975. ("(For The Love) I Gave To You", although popular, was never released as a single.) Most of their songs at this point were written by lead singer William Hart.Read More:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Delfonics

=================================================

La La Means I Love You

========================

The Sound of Sexy Soul (Full Album)

Released in 19691. Ready Or Not Here I Come (Can't Hide From Love) 0:002. "Let It Be Me 2:023.Hot Dog (I Love You So) 4:244. You Can't Be Loving Him 6:435. Ain't That Peculiar 8:496. With These Hands 10:387. Face It Girl, It's Over 12:548. Goin' Out of My Head 15:539. My New Love 18:0210. Somebody Loves You 20:5311. Scarborough Fair 24:1412. Everytime I See My Baby 26:35

Friday, October 11, 2013

Kings of Leon is a Grammy winning American rock band that formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 1999. The band is composed of brothers Anthony Caleb Followill (b. January 14, 1982, lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Ivan Nathan Followill (b. June 26, 1979, drums, percussion, backing vocals) and Michael Jared Followill (b. November 20, 1986, bass guitar, backing vocals), with their cousin Cameron Matthew Followill (b. September 10, 1984, lead guitar, backing vocals).

The band's early music was an upbeat blend of Southern rock and blues influences, but it has gradually expanded throughout the years to include a variety of genres and a more alternative, arena rock sound. Kings of Leon achieved initial success in the United Kingdom with nine Top 40 singles, two BRIT Awards in 2008, and all three of the band's albums at the time peaking in the top five of the UK Albums Chart. Their third album, Because of the Times, also reached the number one spot. After the release of Only by the Night in September 2008 the band achieved chart success in the United States. The singles "Sex on Fire", "Use Somebody", and "Notion" all peaked at number one on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. The album was their first Platinum-selling album in the United States, and was also the best-selling album of 2008 in Australia, being certified platinum nine times. The band's fifth album, Come Around Sundown, was released on October 18, 2010. Their sixth album, Mechanical Bull, was released on September 24, 2013.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement that flourished by the 1960s. After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became a renowned and sometimes controversial artist. The Andy Warhol Museum in his native city, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, holds an extensive permanent collection of art and archives. It is the largest museum in the United States dedicated to a single artist.

Warhol's art encompassed many forms of media, including hand drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, silk screening, sculpture, film, and music. He was also a pioneer in computer-generated art using Amiga computers that were introduced in 1984, two years before his death. He founded Interview Magazine and was the author of numerous books, including The Philosophy of Andy Warhol and Popism: The Warhol Sixties. He is also notable as a gay man who lived openly as such before the gay liberation movement. His studio, The Factory, was a famous gathering place that brought together distinguished intellectuals, drag queens, playwrights, Bohemian street people, Hollywood celebrities, and wealthy patrons.

Warhol has been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions, books, and feature and documentary films. He coined the widely used expression "15 minutes of fame". Many of his creations are very collectible and highly valuable. The highest price ever paid for a Warhol painting is US$100 million for a 1963 canvas titled Eight Elvises. The private transaction was reported in a 2009 article in The Economist, which described Warhol as the "bellwether of the art market". Warhol's works include some of the most expensive paintings ever sold.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Saul Bass (May 8, 1920 – April 25, 1996) was an American graphic designer and Oscar winning filmmaker, best known for his design of motion picture title sequences, film posters, and corporate logos.

During his 40-year career Bass worked for some of Hollywood's most prominent filmmakers, including Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger, Billy Wilder, Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese. Among his most famous title sequences are the animated paper cut-out of a heroin addict's arm for Preminger's The Man with the Golden Arm, the credits racing up and down what eventually becomes a high-angle shot of a skyscraper in Hitchcock's North by Northwest, and the disjointed text that races together and apart in Psycho.

Bass designed some of the most iconic corporate logos in North America, including the AT&T "bell" logo in 1969, as well as AT&T's "globe" logo in 1983 after the breakup of the Bell System. He also designed Continental Airlines' 1968 "jetstream" logo and United Airlines' 1974 "tulip" logo which became some of the most recognized airline industry logos of the era.

Personal Note: Saul Bass was not only a graphic designer of posters, corporate logos and movie title sequences. He was a visionary, an innovator and trailblazer. Every logo he designed, I remember as a child. The title sequences to his movies are not just legendary but are truly epic. He was and forever will be one of the greatest artists of The 20th Century. - Torrence King

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved international acclaim with their progressive and psychedelic music. Distinguished by their use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, and elaborate live shows, they are one of the most commercially successful and musically influential groups in the history of popular music.Founded in 1965, the band originally consisted of students Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Roger Waters, and Richard Wright. They first gained popularity performing in London's underground music scene during the late 1960s, and under Barrett's creative leadership they released two charting singles and a successful debut album. David Gilmour joined as a fifth member in December 1967, and Barrett left the band in April 1968 due to his deteriorating mental health. After Barrett's departure, Waters became their primary songwriter and lyricist. With Waters, Mason, Wright and Gilmour, Pink Floyd achieved critical and commercial success with the concept albums The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977), The Wall (1979) and The Final Cut (1983).Wright left Pink Floyd in 1979, followed by Waters in 1985. Gilmour and Mason continued as Pink Floyd and Wright subsequently joined them as a paid musician. They continued to record and tour through 1994; two more albums followed, A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) and The Division Bell (1994). Inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005, as of 2013 they have sold more than 250 million albums worldwide, including 74.5 million certified units in the United States.After nearly two decades of acrimony, the band reunited in 2005 for a performance at the global awareness event Live 8. Barrett died in 2006 and Wright in 2008. In 2011, surviving members Gilmour and Mason joined Waters at one of his The Wall Tour shows at The O2 Arena in London.Read More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Floyd

========================================

Time (Live performance at Earls Court, London, from 199). This version is taken from the 2005 P·U·L·S·E DVD and includes the reprise of Breath, at its end.

About Me

As an illustrator, writer, poet and photographer in Chicago, Illinois, Torrence King has been published both professionally and independently since 1991. King has illustrated and created dozens of comics, graphic novels and characters and has written over 100 poems, plays and stories. A former radio show host in the late 90’s, King has been profiled on several radio stations and featured in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Defender. King also created, Lifeforce Comics, one of the first comic books to address and tackle Drug Abuse and the HIV/AIDS crisis back in 1992 for the Chicago Board of Education. A sought after speaker, King has also taught seminars on publishing, sequential art history, graphic art and contemporary music history. Shifting to part-time photography and management in 2007, King has been instrumental in the development of both professional and aspiring models and artists to a broader audience. For more information, commission rates, published work, contact Torrence King by email: torrenceking2000@hotmail.com